Devoted Gold Coast mum helps baby through 15 surgeries in 10 months while juggling demands of two others children

A devoted Gold Coast mum has helped her baby through 15 surgeries in 10 months – all while juggling the demands of two other children.

HELPLESSLY watching her newborn son Colton fight for his life just hours after she nearly died in childbirth is something mother-of-three Kaila Stace will never forget.

“My placenta tore in three places and I lost two-and-a-half litres of blood and had to have lifesaving emergency surgery,” she said.

“Seven hours after giving birth I was wheeled into a room and there was no baby, I was hysterical. Then the doctors came in and told me my son had been born with a rare birth defect (an imperforate anus) and would need lifesaving emergency surgery.”

Mother of three Kaila Stace with her children, Hadley Stace, 3, Colton Streater, 10 months and Sebastian Streater, 8. Picture: Jerad Williams

At just nine hours old, Colton had a colostomy bag inserted. It was the first of 15 operations he would endure in 10 months. Sadly just three days later, the procedure had to be repeated because of complications.

When he was six weeks he was again hospitalised, with respiratory syncytial virus, something he has had three times since, and at four months he underwent a gruelling six-hour reconstructive surgery.

“I think I cried the entire time,” Ms Stace said.

A week before Christmas he nearly died on the way to hospital after choking on phlegm and had another 13-day hospital stay. Ms Stace came close to losing her son again a few weeks later following the removal of his colostomy bag when Colton went unresponsive in her arms.

“For nearly two minutes a team of 14 doctors worked on him and they got him back. Three days later he came home. He’s my little fighter, he’s been through hell,” she said.

“Despite all he’s been through he’s such a happy smiley baby.”

Kaila Stace’s three children, Hadley Stace, 3, Colton Streater, 10 months and Sebastian Streater, 8. Picture: Jerad Williams

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Ms Stace, of Pimpama, also has a daughter Hadley, 3, and stepson Sebastian, 8, who has severe ADHD and lives with her and her fiance Dale Streater.

Sebastian’s mum Nicole McPherson said Ms Stace always made her son feel like he was hers as well.

“For a few years she was his full-time mum and I couldn’t fault her, I only wish I could be as good a mum as she is – caring for three children, including a baby with so many medical problems and she hasn’t given up once,” Ms McPherson said. “Not a lot of people can say they get along with their ex but our best interest has always been our children.”

Ms Stace was unlikely to get a sleep-in on Mother’s Day today as Sebastian often wakes at 4am and Colton is teething, but she had put in a request for some crunch chocolate and a Zarraffa’s coffee fusion.

“I’ve always wanted to be a mum, I just love it and adore the cuddles,” she said.

“But I’ve also learned a lot from my mum. I strive to be like her because she’s the most beautiful person.’’